The Trials of a Fifth Year Hufflepuff
by Hufflepuff Pride
Summary: It's tough to be a Hufflepuff, especially a plump and shy one. Short story centering around an OC. No major characters involved.


Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine and I'm not making any money off of this.

Author's Note: The only Original Character is Lachesis, all the rest are very minor characters from the books. You can look them up on the Lexicon.

Title: The Trials and Tribulations of a Fifth Year Hufflepuff

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When one is cursed with the name Lachesis, one learns early on that life is not kind. When one also has a fondness for sweets, a mind that takes just a *few* more moments to process then most, and is Sorted into Hufflepuff…well, one learns that life is downright cruel.

Lachesis Andrews sat in History of Magic class, sighing heavily. She pulled a chocolate frog out of her pocket, and popped it into her mouth. She supposed she should be paying attention to Professor Binns, but she couldn't bring herself to. It was so *boring*. And there was so much else on her mind!

War. Lachesis didn't know all that much about the first war, just that it had been Bad. Death, destruction, and a myriad of other things her parents thought her too delicate to know about. She'd picked up enough from school-Housemates and textbooks-and was sick to her stomach thinking about it now. 

But really, she didn't spend too much time thinking about war, or He Who Must Not Be Named, or the possible turmoil the world was going to fall into. She was more concerned with Justin-Finch Fletchley. One year older, and in her opinion the only thing worth thinking about while eating a chocolate frog.

Justin didn't even know she existed, or so it seemed. She *tried* to make him notice her, but to no avail. 

It wasn't *her* fault. She knew she wasn't pretty, like the Head Girl, or smart like that Gryffindor Hermione Granger. But she wasn't stupid, and she wasn't a troll. And there was nothing *wrong* with being a Hufflepuff. She liked being a Hufflepuff! 

She was snapped back to reality by class ending. She sighed, wiping her chocolate smudged hands on her robes. She didn't have a clean tissue, and the robe *was* black. Who was going to notice? She gathered up her books and trudged out of the classroom, essentially ignored as usual. 

She wasn't unlikable, she was simply quiet. It was good to be quiet, it was polite. She shouldn't make a spectacle of herself…

But sometimes it was difficult. Sometimes it was lonely, when the other girls were grouped together laughing and talking. Or when Hannah Abbot was laughing with Justin, and putting her hand on his arm. Or when she heard them snickering behind their hands, not caring if she knew or not.

Lunch was never fun. She sat at the House table, piling her plate high. Her mother called her a healthy eater. Her father said a little too healthy, but she didn't care. She *liked* good food. She wasn't going to give that up just so she could go around in a smaller sized school uniform.

"Pass the sandwiches, eh?" 

Lacehsis looked up, startled by a voice on her left hand side. A boy's voice. She whipped her head around, hazel eyes wide in her round face. 

"If there are any left…"

Lachesis rolled her eyes, ignoring the girls on the other side of the table. She handed the plate of sandwiches to…what was his name? Stewart? Stanley? Stebbins! Mumbling something as she did so.

"Thanks." He smiled, and turned back to his lunch. It was no wonder she couldn't get Justin's attention, she could hardly even *talk* to another human being! She didn't even knew Stebbins' first name, and she couldn't manage a 'you're welcome'. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, and decided to ignore everyone else until lunch was over.

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"Andrews has a boyfriend!"

Lachesis groaned. Stupid Elenor. Stupid pretty pureblood Elenor. She'd been going on about the sandwich incident (which wasn't even an incident!) for almost half an hour now. 

"Oh look," Elenor hissed, dropping her voice. "Here comes your *boyfriend*."

"Shut up!" Lachesis snapped, burying her face in her book. She talked to one boy-hardly even talked-and they were ragging on her over it. No wonder Hufflepuffs had such a bad reputation, when they acted like that.

"Hey."

Lachesis looked up. It was Stebbins-she *wished* she knew his first name-as he passed by her chair. He was saying hi to her. *No-one* said hi to her, except silly Luna Lovegood and *that* didn't count.

"Hi." Her voice squeaked, and she felt herself turning pink. He had just said hello! He wasn't even cute, like Justin! He was tall and spindly and his hair was *much* too long. Boys shouldn't have hair that went past their chin, in her opinion. And Stebbins' was to his shoulders, and very dark brown. 

He smiled, and looked almost as though he were going to say something else, but his attention was diverted.

"Hey Alan! Study group, now!"

"I'm coming." Alan-thank Merlin she knew his name!-shook his head, and with another smile headed off to join his friend. Elenor and her little gang collapsed into a fit of giggles when he was gone, making exaggerated faces and sighing. Lachesis slammed her book shut and stomped up to her dorm.

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The next few days passed relatively normally. Lachesis became acutely aware of the fact that Alan was in her year, and made a habit of smiling at her. Why? She tried to ignore him-it was easier that way. He didn't talk to her again though, not after Elenor took to making loud and snide comments about her whenever he was around.

Not that it mattered. Lachesis had no interest in him at all. Her heart belonged to Justin, and Justin only. The fact that he was going out with Hannah Abbot didn't matter much. Lachesis was a patient girl. The only thing this seemed to help her with was charms. She took to it like a duck to water, and didn't worry much about her grades. Charms was just patience and attention, that was all.

Apparently other people noticed too. She was gather up her books, cursing herself for the chocolate smudge on her textbook, when she felt someone tap her on her shoulder. What did Elenor want now?

"What?" she snapped, whirling around. Oh. It was Alan. "Um. What?"

"Sorry…didn't mean to scare you. I was just wondering if you'd be able to give me a hands with the homework…I really don't get it…" Alan grinned in what Lachesis imagined was a sheepish manner.

"Oh. Um. I…k." Brilliant. What was her problem, really? She wanted to crawl into a hole and die, but there weren't any holes handy.

"Great! I'll see you in the common room tonight." He smiled again-he had an overbite-and headed out of the classroom. Lachesis gritted her teeth, refusing to hear whatever it was that Elenor was going on about now. She was blushing and confused and she went to the girls loo, rather then her next class.

Why was Alan being so nice? He'd never even spoken to her before? Elenor made jokes, but Lachesis knew they were just that. *She* didn't mind the fact that she was 'pleasantly plump'. All polite terms aside, she was big. She knew this, and she accepted it. But she also knew that the rest of the world didn't think that way, but that was their problem.

She looked at herself in the mirror, really critiquing herself. Short strawberry blond hair that curled into the most annoying ringlets-no matter what she did!- a round face, hazel eyes and full lips. It was the sort of face that was popular in the renaissance, but had no place on today's issues of Witch Weekly. 

She was being an idiot. Alan just needed help with his homework. Groaning in frustration, Lachesis headed to class. So what if she was late?

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"Hey…." Alan trailed off, sitting down next to her.

"Lachesis." She spoke flatly. Why couldn't she have a *normal* name? Like Sue, or Catherine, or Matilda? No. Her parents had to be different. Her grandpa was a wizard, she needed a *mystical* name. Mysticism was all well and good, but easy to pronounce was better.

"You don't have a nickname, do you?"

"Could *you* make a nickname out of 'Lachesis'?" She'd tried. It couldn't be done. Lackey? 

"Cassy?" Alan suggested.

"Cassy?" Lachesis raised her eyebrows. That was just as bad. Her neighbors had a dog named Cassy.

"Or not…so, um, about the homework…"

Of course. Homework. He'd made fun of her name, and wanted to do homework. She kept her grumbling to herself, and set about trying to explain to him the basic theory behind today's work. Which was difficult. She wasn't good at putting things into words, and ended up getting frustrated.

"Hey, it's okay," Alan said, after about ten minutes of red faced sputtering. "I think I get it."

"All right…" He was probably just saying that, but she couldn't explain it any better. "So…what do you like to do?"

"Do?"

For fun." Alan leaned back, folding his hands behind his head.

"Oh. Um. Just…stuff." Another brilliant response. Why did he *care*? "Reading."

"Really? I've never been really into reading for fun." Alan shrugged. "But that's cool."

"Why are you talking to me?" The words just tumbled out, before she could stop them. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"What?" Alan's lips quirked up in a little bit of a smile, and then he began laughing. Laughing. Lachesis scrunched up her face, feeling pretty angry.

"Fine! Be that way!" she snapped. She was used to it by now. But he had been *nice*!

"Wait!" Alan shook his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. I just figured…I mean…I like you. Sort of."

"You like me?" This was a cruel joke. Elenor had set it up, or something. Boys didn't like her…but why not? Why the heck didn't they? What was so strange or weird about a boy maybe actually liking her? It wasn't Justin, but…

"Yeah. I like you." Alan grinned. "Sort of. I don't know you well enough, but I think I could. You're quiet and you're nice, and you seem pretty cool if you can put up with *them*" he jerked his head in the direction of Elenor and her gaggle, 'for as long as you have."

"Oh." Lachesis blushed, feeling stupid. But that wasn;t anything new.

"How about you come into Hogsmeade with me this weekend? We can hit Honeydukes…"

"Okay." Where else was she going to go? 

"Great." Alan smiled again. His overbite wasn't too bad. "Want a chocolate frog?"

"Sure!" Was she going to say no? She'd eaten all of hers already. She took the proffered sweet, Charms, homework, and Elenor all forgotten. 

And that was pretty darn nice.

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End file.
